With the economy tanking and fuel prices soaring, you might think Rolls-Royce would be suffering.

After all, prices start at £200,000, and can rise to £1million if you get carried away with the options list, so these are not recession-friendly motors.

But last year a record 3,538 new Rollers were sold around the world, the best ­performance since Henry Royce and Charles Rolls got together 106 years ago.

And while footballers, tycoons and sheikhs spending the price of a three-bed semi on a car proves that we’re not all in this together, it is good news for our economy.

Although Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW, which sparked doom-laden headlines when the iconic firm fell into German hands a decade ago, it is a true British success story.

In 2002 the company was on the verge of going bust and there was a danger that the production line would stop for good. And while the Germans may have saved the firm, it is booming thanks to craftsmanship which has remained resolutely British.

At the company’s sleek modern HQ set in the countryside just outside Chichester, West Sussex, on the edge of the Goodwood estate it is a perfectly balanced alliance between the old and the new.

Outside sit row upon row of BMW company cars while inside 1,000 workers painstakingly turn out classics whose names, Phantom and Ghost, are evocative of a time when life was not so rushed.

Rolls-Royce is one of the UK’s flagship exports, symbolising success from Beverly Hills to Beijing.

The short ride from the station to the factory, in a chauffeur-driven Ghost the firm sent to collect us, gives a small taste of the appeal.

Despite the proximity to the HQ, which means Rollers are a more common sight than anywhere else in the world, we still turn heads as other drivers slow down to catch a glimpse.

Buying a Roller starts in the same way as any car, with choosing your model.

On the face of it the choice is simple, two models, two engines and long or short wheel base with the option of a drop head coupe if you like the wind in your hair.

Then it gets interesting. The options list is limited only by your imagination and engineering. The firm strives to fulfil your every wish, as long as it doesn’t harm the car’s cushion-soft ride.

The bling wheels on David Beckham’s black Phantom drophead coupe were not fitted by the firm, for instance.

Some customer requirements are relatively simple. When Sir Michael Kadoorie ordered 14 long-wheelbase Phantoms for the Peninsular Hotel in Hong Kong at £350,000 each – the biggest single order ever – he asked for flip down TV screens in the back, champagne fridges and cool towel holders.

He also wanted the passenger control consoles to be moved to the car doors so folk didn’t need to lean forward to open a window or adjust air conditioning.

A Japanese customer asked for cushions in the back to match the interior and a bespoke fridge to hold six cans of his favourite drink.

The firm’s Andrew Ball explains: “Our customers are usually very successful and used to getting what they want. They are polite but demanding and give us challenges but we can generally meet them.

“One man bought a car for his wife as a present and wanted it to match her favourite nail varnish so he bought in a bottle and we matched it. Another gentleman arrived in his British racing green Aston Martin and asked us to match the colour exactly.

“When it comes to bespoke we can do it if it’s legal in the country the car is to be driven in. We never pass judgement, we are not the style police.”

The message is clear - customers can have what they want but they will pay for the privilege –on top of the £200,000 for a Ghost and £300,000 a Phantom will set you back.

Around 80% of the cars are sold outside Europe with China and North America the biggest markets. It is the British connection that people pay for. A UK-made car using crafts like leatherwork and woodwork which are arguably the best in the world.

Inside the leather-shop multi-coloured bolts of animal skin hang on trolleys. Again any colour goes – there are more than 50,000 to choose from. One big element of bespoke is ­embroidery, and some of the designs asked for make Beckham’s DB7 initials look dull.

Andrew Monaclan runs the leather shop, which has 180 workers. The 42-year-old who lives nearby in ­Tangmere, arrived at the firm after stints with General Motors and Vauxhall.

He said: “We can set up to stitch anything down to 10 point size but after that it gets hard to sew. Cars for the Middle East require Arabic writing which has to be tattooed on.

“We spent weeks working on how to make dragon scales look realistic on some special editions and then a month on one eagle for a headrest.”

Each car uses 11 cow hides sourced from a German firm, Hewa, and cut into 450 individual pieces before being sewn in place with 24,000 stitches. Only bull hides are used to avoid stretch marks and each is inspected to remove bites and scars.

Other parts of the plant include the paint shop – off limits for us as it is a hermetically sealed ­environment where the tiniest piece of lint could mean a complete respray – all six coats.

Workers there don’t even leave the shop for lunch to avoid contamination.

Much of the work might be old crafts, but the firm is forward thinking. It recently showed off the Rolls-Royce 102EX, the Phantom Experimental ­Electric which uses two electric motors instead of a 6.75-litre V12 engine.

Cars are assembled on a 16-step production line where each stage takes an hour. A Mini spends 30 seconds on each stage of its manufacture.

From the factory the cars are given a 10 mile test drive before being shipped or flown to their owners, or collected.

We left the Rolls-Royce factory in a Ghost, with a driver from Stuttgart.

We’re in Britain in a British car but there’s a German in control and the ride is perfect. It’s strangely apt.